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The need for running businesses efficiently has long since been recognized. And with this pressing need came various tools, Business Intelligence (BI) being one of them. But what is different about BI is the fact that it has managed to survive, unlike a lot of its kith and kin. From the new kid on the block in the 1990s to the most demanded application by businesses in the beginning of the 21st century, BI has seen it all. To put it simply, BI has managed to survive that dreaded disease called change and that too in all its forms.

However, before pronouncing it the winner and it is yet too early to do that, there is a need to look at its journey, its milestones and the factors that give BI its present form. The ride for BI has not been a smooth one, and there are challenges that still make extensive planning for any CIO a must before he even thinks of adopting BI. Whats more, BI comes with a huge cost attached, and that doesnt exactly work in its favor.

But whatever said and done, BI has come a long way today. From being an analysts complex tool, it has now entered the board rooms of companies. From huge time back logs in furnishing data based on unstructured information, it can now facilitate real time decision making. And all this has made BI the star in every CIOs eye.

Journey so Far
Some four-five years back, if you had asked an IT manager of two different verticals, lets say telecom and insurance about their perception of BI, the answers would have been vastly different. This is because during the growth and experimentation phase of BI, everyone had their own notions as well as demands from a BI system. And system clarity is too much to ask for if its users arent well informed.

There are enough reasons to counter the failure of some BI implementations in the initial stages and the inability of some to even see the light of the day. According to Sanjay Deshmukh, country manager, Business Objects, SAP India, In the earlier times, every user had a different idea of what they meant by BI. There was a lot of confusion in that space.

BI, as a system, not only throws up incredible amounts of data, but also needs some substantial data as its preliminary ground. Deshmukh says that earlier this preliminary data only was not in an organized structure. Information was not stored in the core system, or in any one main system for that matter. Thats why BI wasnt living up. Moreover, there was the problem of incorrect data. The ways of capturing data was not correct. Thus quality of data became a problem, says Deshmukh.

V Subramanya, country manager, Information Management, IBM India/South Asia, adds to that by saying, Although BI implementation fails on various accounts, one major reason is that of trusted information. There is no established lineage behind the information generated by BI. And when you cant trust the information, you become vary of using it.

As per Ashit Panjwani, director, marketing, Alliances & Channels; SAS India, any BI module has four key components. These areData Integration, Data Analytics, Traditional BI Functions and Solution Approach. Reasons for failure of BI is faltering on either one of these. And mostly its the data integration part which is the biggest challenge, since quality of data is not readily available, he says.

Also, BI is not one platform, like lets say SAP. It has various layers of functionality and is often tied to more than one application. It is a multiple tool discipline and cant function with a unilateral view. Notes Subramanya, People think that BI can be structured like a project. But velocity of business keeps on changing. What people fail to realize is that change management is a part of BI.

The above factors do explain the rather turbulent journey of BI so far, but these factors also play a huge role in ensuring that BI climbs the ladder to sit right at the top.

Intelligence to Analytics
Panjwani makes a rather strong statement when he says that the old definition of BI is dead. BI doesnt exist as it used to before. This statement brings out the massive evolution that the BI domain has seen over the past couple of years or so. From being just a data gurgling system, BI is now a data analysis system. BI has moved to data analysis rather than just data organization. We no longer call it Business Intelligence. We call it Business Analytics, he says.

Gone are the days when a special team was needed to monitor and analyze the data generated by BI. BI has now found its way into everyday applications like e-mail, memos, voicemail messages and other sources of unstructured data that are rich sources of information for organizations. According to Sairaman Jagannathan, vice president and business head, Business Solutions Division, Wipro Limited, BI has expanded its limits to the front lines through operational analytics. This is the blend of historical and real time analysis supporting tactical and operational management. BI is now well embedded in regular applications.

All this goes on to prove that the industry has matured significantly. BI is no longer a confused term in anyones mind, the need based approach is gaining momentum. And BI is one of the rare things for which recession (or slowdown, if you would call it that) has come with positive signals. This, in spite of the initial investment involved as RoI is the primary parameter for all businesses in these times. And BI scores high on that. As Panjwani puts it the value of BI grows exponentially in times like these.

The Trends
BI has displayed some prominent trends in the last year or so. These trends give us a fair indication of buzz word that it has already become and the way of life that it is all set to become. It is not without basis tha Deshmukh predicts the ERP style growth for BI. Some the most defining trends are:

Customization: Although standard systems are still in demand, BI is certainly showing the customization drive. It is moving away from the transactional system to industry specific needs. Be it verticals or specific operations, the users are moulding it their way.

Interactivity: BI is getting more consultative in nature. It is no longer about delivering a complex tool box. Vendors have graduated to assess the needs of their customers and give them suitable solutions.

Predictability: BI can now be used to segment customers and identify trends in customer behaviour. For example in retailwe are moving from analyzing what time of the month, to what time of the day a customer would most likely come to buy a product, so that the first counter can be adjusted accordingly to the customer needs. Predictive models can be used to identify customers and initiate programs to target such customers.

Real time monitoring: Although this hasnt really taken off as of yet, the analysts are harping big on it. Says Jagannathan, Future of BI lies with the futuristic predictions based on the real time analytics. With the emergence of real time BI analytics amalgamated with predictive analysis techniques, BI solutions would be able to forecast the events in real time by mining the current state parameters against the historical trend, translating the power of futuristic predictions from the statistical analysts to-day-to day operational decision makers.

BI on mobile: When mobile is busy accommodating everthing under the sun, why should BI stay behind?
BI for SMBs: The cost factor has been a major hindrance till now. But a multi-tier cost structure is already emerging in the market. The vendors are realizing the potential that SMBs hold, and building solutions for them.

The government beckons: The government is emerging as a key employer of BI solutions. In fact, big vendors like SAS have the government as a big player on their clientele list. So the future might bring us government offices and departments that run intelligently. Now, that would be something to write about!

Mehak Chawla
mehakc@cybermedia.co.in

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